• viridescent •

Notes: This word comes with a shorter fraternal twin, virescent, which we may use when we need the sense of today's Good Word, but are in a hurry. We know they come from the same family, because they share the same lexical root, vir-. Of course, we always form the noun from adjectives on -ent or -ant by simply adding an [s] sound, and spelling the nouns viridescence and virescence.

In Play: You know how beautiful trees are early in the spring when they are just beginning to unfurl their leaves, which have not yet turned fully green? This is the word to describe them: "The crocuses, hyacinths and daffodils were resplendent in full colors beneath the majestic arches of viridescent elms." Although some have used this word in the sense of "greenish", the actual meaning is "becoming green". So try it like this, too: "Maude, how do you feel? You look a bit viridescent, as though you were about to throw up."

Word History: Today's Good Word came from Late Latin viridescen(t)s "greening", the present participle of viridescere "to become green". A shorter form of this word is virescere "to become green", whose participle gave us the shorter adjective virescent with the same meaning as today's Good Word. This is the 'verbed' form of Latin viridis "green", which French turned into verd-, then vert "green". We find the root verd- in verdant "green with plant life" and verdure "greenery", both of which we borrowed from French. (We thank Mary Jane Stoneburg, one of the editors of the Good Word series, for dreaming of spring's viridescence and suggesting we add today's bit of springiness to our series.)

Virtue and virlie both stem from Latin man. There is no getting around sexist language. Is vir- used for green in English? Give me an example. Verde means green in Spanish. I am familiar with thallium for green as a Greek root. The element thallium has a green radiation spectra. A thallium stress test for the heart may be performed after an injection of thallium. The heart may be viewed in real time and in great detail on a monitor from a thallium sensor. I have had such a test. Just like the PET scan of my brain, they found nothing.

Sometimes my mind compartmentalizes itself. How else can I explain a request for an example of vir- for green in a Good Word discussion that is about viridescent? My apologies to all who have to put up with me.

As to viridescent plants and such, did you know that on certain shrubberies the stuff I call "new green" is edible? Pluck it off and chow down. Perhaps a bit late in the season now, but think about it for next Spring.

Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

Cacti are viridescent plants. The young leaves of the prickly pear ( a cactus not a pear at all) are eaten by some Texans. At the stage before thorns form, the leaves are cut from the plant. For breakfast they are sliced thinly and fried to go with eggs and sausage. They are also cooked in sugar water until they are saturated with sugar. These are eaten as a candy. The fruit of the prickley pear is a cylindrical fruit called a tuna. It is about 3 cm long and 2 cm in diametrer. There are thorns on these fruits when they turn a deep purple color and are ripe. The tunas are carefully cut from the plant and singed over an open flame to burn off the thorns. Then they are cooked into filling for a pie or as jam. There are many more native Texas plants that can be used for food. Many Texas Amerinds were expert at using the available plants for food.